New in PJ Media:
Trump Derangement Syndrome has afflicted a great many people over the last seven years, but no one more profoundly than the famous atheist Sam Harris, who recently repeated something he has said before, despite the astonishing intellectual dishonesty and moral myopia it displays. Donald Trump, said the renowned thinker, is “a worse person than Usama bin Laden.”
Fox News reported Wednesday that Harris said this on his popular and ironically titled Making Sense podcast: “I’ve said on several occasions that I think Donald Trump is a worse person than Usama bin Laden. The statement is obviously meant to get your attention. I get that it’s surprising, but it’s not meant to be hyperbolic. I can defend every word of a statement like that. What I can’t defend are people’s misunderstandings and erroneous extrapolations of a statement like that.”
In Sam Harris’ twisted moral universe, the man who masterminded the murder of nearly 3,000 people on Sept. 11, 2001, was “a more or less normal human being psychologically.” Yes, indeed, it’s perfectly normal psychologically to plot to take down a couple of skyscrapers full of office workers and murder thousands of innocent people because they lived in a nation one considered to be an enemy of the alleged true religion. Happens every day.
Harris claims that “within the framework of his [bin Laden’s] odious beliefs, he demonstrated many virtues.” That is true. Bin Laden adhered, after all, to a religion with a holy book that thrice commands believers to “kill them,” that is, unbelievers, “wherever you find them,” even in the Twin Towers (Qur’an 2:191, 4:89, cf. 9:5).
To Harris, this makes Osama “a man who certainly seemed to be capable of real self-sacrifice and he was committed to ideals beyond his narrow self-interest. He was by all accounts personally quite courageous. I don’t claim to know that much about him, but it wouldn’t surprise me at all if he was generally a person of real integrity and generosity and compassion in his dealings with his fellow Muslims. None of these things can be said about Donald Trump. Trump is without question one of the least honest and malignantly selfish human beings I have ever come across.” How does Harris know both Osama bin Laden’s and Donald Trump’s innermost thoughts, intentions, and beliefs so comprehensively? He doesn’t deign to explain.
“The seeming paradox,” continues the wizardly Harris, is that if Trump, unlike the saintly Osama, did have any virtues, he would be even worse. “If Trump were a better person he would be worse in many ways. If he were brave and self-sacrificing and idealistic, if he were capable of being strongly committed to something beyond his self-interest, he would be capable of creating much greater harm in the world. But he’s not.”
There is more. Read the rest here.
mg says
“…To Harris, this makes Osama “a man who certainly seemed to be capable of real self-sacrifice and he was committed to ideals beyond his narrow self-interest. He was by all accounts personally quite courageous. I don’t claim to know that much about him, but it wouldn’t surprise me at all if he was generally a person of real integrity and generosity and compassion in his dealings with his fellow Muslims. None of these things can be said about Donald Trump. Trump is without question one of the least honest and malignantly selfish human beings I have ever come across.” How does Harris know both Osama bin Laden’s and Donald Trump’s innermost thoughts, intentions, and beliefs so comprehensively? He doesn’t deign to explain.”
Indeed, when reading the article and particularly this slice of unreasoning word salad, I can only wonder about the unbearably fixed and tenaciously stupid stance of such a thinker. Does Harris pretend away what Bin Laden thought of doing to others, like Yazidis, bahai, shia muslims, christians arabs, Sikhs?? What has been done to them and supported as ‘righteous’ islamic actions by such as Bin Laden? And of course what would he think of the slaughtering of Jews, the world wide subjugation of Christians, and his hated polytheists who were also to be subjugated unto erasure?? Does his intellectual platform have no sense nor sensibility for the utterly destructive belief system that he had to obey, progagate and enforce upon the entire world?? And because he has generosity to other muslims ( who happen to follow his dictates and never deviate from them) that makes him an ennobled person?? Does Harris not remember the unbelievable and vulgar picture of the German SS who would lovingly play with their and others German children, nursing their flower gardens, and speaking softly to fellow believers of deutchland uber alles, but would be more than eager to slam a two year old Jewish baby into the sidewalk in front of it’s mother, before sending the mother to her destruction- to show the superiority of their ‘belief’.?? Does he not think Bin Laden was far more a brutalizing power hungry Jihadist who’s disdain for all others motivated his pure action??
“The seeming paradox,” continues the wizardly Harris, is that if Trump, unlike the saintly Osama, did have any virtues, he would be even worse. “If Trump were a better person he would be worse in many ways. If he were brave and self-sacrificing and idealistic, if he were capable of being strongly committed to something beyond his self-interest, he would be capable of creating much greater harm in the world. But he’s not.”
And Trumps negotiating team working round the clock got the middle east to divest of it’s atavistic practice of mere commanded superiority to throw out this for the reasoned survival of their nation states, to grow and produce one day long after their oil resources were diminished. No one did this- no politician, and he did it with his team, including his jewish son in law leading the negotiations. That too should be noted. Trump, a Catholic, accepted the conversion of his daughter to an observant Jewish faith and lifestyle. This wasn’t some gossamer political deal with no reality to it, and yet, this Catholic man, without all this brouhaha showing this off as some great spiritual generosity on his part, gave his blessing to this show of his openness. Does Harris think Bin Laden would allow any of his children to carry out of his faith, without consequences? Hell he wouldn’t allow non muslims to be non muslims without living under submission. What do you think he would do to his own kids if they dared this?.
Harris is a contemptible person. To devolve into this self deception disorder is something I can only hope others will point out to him with substantive critiques of his gossamer euphoric pretensions. Donald Trump has been utterly vilified by him and endlessly by others thru this metastatic self deception disorder that demands the lessening of freedom of speech and thought for it to be maintained. Let’s hope better minds detail the absurdity of this preposterous assumption of his about Bin Laden versus Donald Trump as he has feverishly concocted.
Wellington says
Harris proves again Orwell’s assessment that some ideas are so stupid that only intellectuals could come up with them.
gravenimage says
Grimly true, Wellington.
Walter Sieruk says
That statement that by San Harris that in some ways “Donald Trump is worse than Osama bin Laden” is outlandishly absurd and nonsensical ,if not blatantly slanderous .
It’s no excuse for Harris when he said that his awful assertion was hyperbolic,.exaggerated, to get the attention of people.
That terrible unetance of Harris was in a sense saying that “Osama bin Laden is good and Donald Trump is evil.” is nothingless than a blatant and strong reminder that the Bible reads “Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil.” Isaiah 5:20. [N.KJ.V.]
CogitoErgoSum says
I never paid much attention to Sam Harris. I will continue to do so.
gravenimage says
Is Donald Trump a Worse Person Than Osama bin Laden? Sam Harris Thinks So.
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And this is something Sam Harris did not say once that may be excused as some sort of outrageous gaffe, but *over and over again*. “Trump Derangement Syndrome” at its most deranged.
More:
Harris claims that “within the framework of his [bin Laden’s] odious beliefs, he demonstrated many virtues.”
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So what? One can say the same about Jim Jones or Pol Pot or many other murderous thugs. This is especially odd to hear from a rabid atheist who is not just not religious, but *hates* religion. And he is scathing about peaceful Jews and Christians, but spouts apologia for *Osama bin Laden*? Moral insanity.
More:
To Harris, this makes Osama “a man who certainly seemed to be capable of real self-sacrifice and he was committed to ideals beyond his narrow self-interest. He was by all accounts personally quite courageous. I don’t claim to know that much about him, but it wouldn’t surprise me at all if he was generally a person of real integrity and generosity and compassion in his dealings with his fellow Muslims.
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Mostly Osama bin Laden violently sacrificed unbelievers. And several Muslims were also killed on 9/11. They may not have been the targets, but bin Laden must have known statistically that there would probably be Muslims among the victims, and he didn’t care. Then, how courageous is it to hide behind his family members?